Meanwhile, at Kojima Kana's house—Shirase regained control of his body and glanced at the still-steaming ramen, his mood steady…
Well, not quite that steady.
It wasn't that he minded the damned system hijacking his body and blatantly stealing Hiratsuka-sensei's ramen right in front of her. He'd been through this plenty of times and was already used to cleaning up the system's mess.
Compared to the rewards he could get, this little incident was hardly worth mentioning.
When the [Wheel-of-Fortune Lottery] had previously rolled the ramen Hiratsuka Shizuka liked, he'd already prepared himself to apologize and handle the aftermath.
What genuinely upset him was that the new feature's unlocking progress bar was stuck at 99%.
He'd tasted this cursed 99% completion trick before—like begging friends on Pinduoduo to chop that last percent—and now the damned system was doing it again!
You monster!
You absolute monster!
Having learned from experience, Shirase knew the last 1% couldn't be cleared in [Fixed Hosting] mode alone. He'd have to trigger another round of [Free Hosting].
[The host has successfully obtained the reward. Detecting that the host has yet to provide feedback on this hosting session. Please rate promptly.]
[Detecting host dissatisfaction with the prize. Reward for this Wheel-of-Fortune Lottery will be adjusted: Greatly improved baking skills for the host.]
Shirase smiled slightly, genuinely moved.
Then he calmly left a one-star review.
He did it leisurely, like casually lighting a cigarette and then staring at a gas tank, waiting for its reaction.
[Thank you for providing feedback for this session.]
The system notification sounded—
Then froze.
Five seconds later, the system's mechanical voice resumed, hesitant:
[Why did the host leave a negative review?]
"Because I felt like it," Shirase replied calmly.
The system didn't respond further, quickly flashed him a [Triple-Experience Card (2h)], and fell silent again.
Shirase figured it had gone into self-imposed isolation.
That was fine. As a kindhearted person, he'd already decided that before activating [Free Hosting] next time, he'd first dive into math for a good half hour, fully immersing himself in problem-solving mode.
At that point, with his intense urge to solve problems, he wondered if the damned system would be happily swimming in an ocean of equations.
Or drowning in it.
It'd be like a teacher with deep-sea phobia suddenly fainting while grading a stack of student essays.
Shirase then started messaging his soccer club teammates one by one.
Although everyone replied quickly, some couldn't make it because they had other commitments and couldn't come mooch off the "Seven-star Ladybug" Shirase.
Among them, Hayama Hayato's reply was the funniest:
[You're cooking it yourself? And you're giving it away to our teammates? Wait for me a bit—I'm in the shopping district right now.]
If you're on a date, just finish your date. No need to run back just for a dish.
Shirase chuckled as he read the message. Hayama Hayato was definitely with Miura Yumiko right now. Ditching a girl during precious date time just for food would definitely leave her feeling sour.
...
Ten minutes later, teammates who had free time started arriving one after another.
Following Shirase's instructions from the email, everyone brought their own lunch boxes.
At first, they thought he had to be joking. But when they actually saw him packing up the dishes for them, each of them stood there in stunned disbelief.
"Shirase, what exactly is going on here?" Two teammates who usually trained hard looked bewildered.
"You can think of it as a club welfare perk," Shirase said lightly.
They scratched their heads in unison. "A club perk like this even exists?"
Confused, the two of them walked off with their lunch boxes.
Immediately after, there was another knock—but this time, it wasn't a teammate. It was Hiratsuka Shizuka.
Shirase wasn't at all surprised she'd come; he'd already prepared for this.
"You probably know why I'm here, right?" The nearly-thirty, unmarried young woman folded her arms, wearing a half smile.
Shirase nodded. "Yeah, about what happened earlier—I acted impulsively."
Seeing his composed expression, Hiratsuka thought her guess had been spot-on. He was clearly just following Kojima's instructions.
Leaning against the doorframe, she arched an eyebrow. "And the ramen bowl?"
Shirase handed her the bowl he'd already washed.
"You even washed it? Not bad—looks like Kojima really trained you well," Hiratsuka said casually as she accepted it.
Shirase paused, confused. Why bring up Kana-nee all of a sudden?
Unaware of his internal struggle, Hiratsuka continued, "I'll explain things to the ramen shop, so don't worry. I'm a regular there, and the owner knows me well. With me smoothing things over, he won't blame you. But…"
She paused, her previously calm eyes turning hesitant. "Shirase, what do you think about Yukino?"
Shirase blinked. "Isn't Hiratsuka-sensei jumping topics a bit fast? Weren't we talking about the ramen shop?"
"Never mind that. Just answer me first."
"Yukinoshita-san is indeed quite impressive."
"What kind of answer is that? I want specifics. For example—her looks, her figure," Hiratsuka-sensei asked, trying to sound casual and failing to hide her real intent.
"Her looks and figure?"
Shirase rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Aren't those already a settled case? Do we even need to discuss them?"
"What do you mean?" Hiratsuka tensed slightly, urgency flickering in her eyes.
"I've heard some girls at school badmouth Yukinoshita-san out of jealousy, sure—but if you're talking about her physical attributes, the guys at school definitely have more authority on the topic."
"What exactly do they say?"
"Just the usual you always hear—pretty, cute, great figure, long legs, very charming… that's about it."
Though he still didn't know what Hiratsuka was after, he told the truth. He didn't interact with classmates much, but a genius beauty like Yukinoshita Yukino naturally generated constant talk.
As for comments about Yukino, he'd heard them so often his ears had practically grown calluses.
"I knew it!" Hiratsuka's expression instantly grew complicated.
Seeing her reaction, Shirase grew even more confused. "What's wrong, Hiratsuka-sensei?"
She couldn't possibly be a nearly-thirty unmarried woman suddenly getting jealous over Yukinoshita Yukino's looks… right?
Instead of answering, Hiratsuka glanced inside. "Kojima's not home?"
"Kana-nee went shopping with Kirisu-sensei."
"I see… Well, having you here is good enough. You're a guy, after all—maybe you can give me some different suggestions from a male perspective."
"Hm? What exactly do you mean, Hiratsuka-sensei?"
"I want to lose weight!"
Hiratsuka Shizuka stated it earnestly and straightforwardly.
Then—Shirase immediately burst out laughing on the spot.
---
T/N: im back, did a poll on my patreon on the new schedule and releases for webnovel so yeah
beep boop